What is a chav? 01/25/2012
 There is an argument that ‘chav’ is less a snobbish put-down for the working class generically than a dig at anyone lacking common decency. The gibe is certainly most clearly used as a derogatory term for a particular segment of the working class (if anyone can define ‘working class’ since Thatcherism totally fragmented society a generation ago). Chav is not aimed at the proletariat per se but rather the underclass so readily caricatured as chainsmoking benefit cheats and Jeremy Kyle fodder by the Daily Mail or the likes of Liberal Democrat peer, Baroness Hussein-Ece. As a blanket term for ‘poor people’ chav is as accurate as referring to all aristocrats as inbred. But it seems unfair to bracket chav with racial slurs. And in the context of jeering anyone who has been driven out of further education by poverty, chav says far more about the ignorance of the person who would use it in that context. If anything, the expression targets those who don’t see any point in education because they are drip-fed ludicrous aspirations by magazines celebrating celebrity culture (and wannabe reality TV contestants are liable to come from any class). Also, the middle class can just as readily exhibit ‘chav tendencies’. Take ‘Sir’ Fred Goodwin. He owns a mansion in Edinburgh's leafy suburbs and a New England holiday retreat (where, according to the RBS officials he once bullied on a daily basis, the swimming pool has his name printed in large blue tiles below its pristine surface). 'The Shred' probably favours the same Italian pinstripes, expensive cars and tawdry faux antiques as any Premiership footballer, although he would stick out like a grizzled sore thumb in the VIP lounge of a West End club. Because he is supremely greedy and covets immense personal wealth with all its designer trappings, he no more empathises with the 3.8 million British children living below the poverty line than Wayne Rooney does. (And surely the Manchester United star is the dictionary definition of a 'chav', despite earning a reputed £26,000 per day). Goodwin and, indeed, all those chief executives whose bonuses make a mockery of the Government’s austerity measures, display many an attribute that screams ‘chav’. Except, in class-obsessed Britain, the labels that really stick are those directed at the lower end of the social scale. Add Comment Top Bore 12/03/2011
 Jeremy Clarkson, BBC presenter, with an estimated salary of £2 million, recently caused controversy when he appeared on The One Show and stated striking public sector workers should be executed in front of their famillies. These remarks were meant to be tongue in cheek, he apologised, adopting the Bernard Manning defence that surely racist jokes are, at the end of the day, just jokes. Clarkson’s right wing boorishness is more tedious than funny. But what truly beggared belief were comments he made about suicide. His zany sense of humour plumbed new depths when he wrote in his newspaper column about 'Johnny Suicide' hampering train services. "Change the driver, pick up the big bits of what's left of the victim, get the train moving as quickly as possible and let foxy woxy and the birds nibble away at the smaller, gooey parts that are far away or hard to find." These remarks have been roundly condemned, particularly in the wake of the Gary Speed tragedy. What Clarkson is most lacking is empathy. Empathy is what makes us human. This is the ability to recognise the pain our fellow human beings often go through, and the urge to try to understand it. This is particularly the case when they’re experiencing such emotional distress they think the world would be a better place without them. Clarkson's main claim to fame is salivating over metal objects with four wheels. And fame this most surely is, as Top Gear is beamed to around 150 million worldwide viewers, earning the Beeb around £33 million per year - the reason why he has free reign to mouth off about everything from speed cameras to endangered animals to gays to Mexicans to Johnny Suicide. He has devoted so much of his life to verbal bullying he now seems incapable of showing empathy for anything except flash, gas-guzzling motor cars.  On Sunday 27 November 2011 the shocking news emerged that Gary Speed, manager of the Wales national football team and former player at Leeds United, Everton, Newcastle United, Bolton Wanderers and Sheffield United, had been found dead at his home. Apparently he had taken his own life, aged 42. Tributes began pouring in for this highly popular figure in the footballing world, from fellow professionals and politicians. He was widely praised as an inspirational role model, one who would give 100% for his shirt without ever feeling the need to racially abuse opponents or fall out of night clubs. As radio presenters interviewed a series of shellshocked colleagues, including members of the BBC Football Focus panel he'd been joking with less than 24 hours previously, a common theme was the first question raised in these scenarios. Why? What had driven a young family man, with a wife and two sons, after a respected playing career and on the verge of potential managerial success with his home country, to choose such a tragic way out? Pundit after pundit struggled to make some sense of what had happened. Of course, a live radio interview so soon after the events is hardly the place to speculate about the 'dark shadows' that may have been lurking, as Radio 5 Live's Nicky Campbell broached the subject. The 'why' question seems to be particularly hard to answer when a person is showing no outward signs of any 'dark shadows'. However, the positive public persona is, in itself, very often a symptom a deeper malaise is being masked. At this moment his family and friends will be trying to come to terms with the shattering intensity of the loss. The 'why' question will follow in due course. Perhaps, in Gary's case, the truth will never be revealed. There are some aspects that can be stated. As a British male, Gary was three times more likely to take this course of action than a female and like any adult in the country, had a one in four chance of experiencing some kind of mental health issue (anxiety and depression being the commonest). I have a friend, Ian, from the Edinburgh punk scene, who died in equally appalling circumstances on 1 April last year. Exactly the same questions were asked and will continue to be asked by his family and friends. The fact is, the human mind is complex. We try coping with stress or anxiety or depression in a myriad different ways. There are trained people, such as The Samaritans who can try to offer help before it gets too late. The difficulty is being able to recognise when there is a problem, especially when people like Gary, Ian and thousands of others adopt that brave face. Primally sick association 10/05/2011
 Primal Scream have reacted furiously to the news their song Rocks has been purloined by the Conservative Party during their annual conference. The statement they issued reveals they haven’t abandoned one of the raw ingredients at the core of rock n’ roll, even chemically-enhanced dance/space rock propelled by Mani’s thunderous bass: anger at injustice. "Primal Scream are totally disgusted that the Home Secretary Theresa May ended her speech at the Tory party conference with our song Rocks. How inappropriate. Didn't they research the political history of our band? Hasn't she listened to the words? Does she even know what getting your rocks off means? No. She is a Tory; how could she? Primal Scream are totally opposed to the coalition government. They are legalised bullies passing new laws to ensure the wealthy stay wealthy, taking the side of big business while eradicating workers’ rights and continuing their attacks on young people, single parents and OAP's by slashing education and social security budgets, in effect persecuting the poor for being poor. We would like to distance ourselves from this sick association. The Tories are waging a war on the disenfranchised. They are the enemy." Primal Scream 75 years ago today, London 7 Fascism 0 10/04/2011
 Today marks the 75th anniversary of the ‘Battle of Cable Street’, a violent street disturbance that occurred on Sunday 4 October 1936 in London’s East End. A march had been planned by the pro-Nazi British Union of Fascicts, led by Oswald Mosley. Hundreds of his supporters (dressed in German Nazi-aping blackshirt uniforms) were to parade through the East End in a deliberate attempt to rile the sizable Jewish population. Against the backdrop of the bitter blow of fascism’s recent bloody triumph during the Spanish Civil War, this march was seen as a massive insult to democracy, and specifically working class unity. Opposing the march were a broad coalition of local community groups: Jewish, anarchist, Irish, socialist and communist. 300,000 turned out to oppose Mosley’s knuckle-draggers, although the fascists were amply protected by some 10,000 police, including 4,000 on horseback. With tensions running high the demonstrators fought running battles with the police, who repeatedly baton charged them clear of the tiny blackshirt presence. Around 150 anti-fascists were arrested. The BUF were cleared out of the East End. Following the riot, the Public Order Act 1936 was passed. Paramilitary-style trappings were banned. Without the uniforms to strut around in, the blackshirts waned as a political ‘force’ of any description, vanishing as the war eventually turned against Hitler. Read about Scotland's own experiences of anti-fascist streetfighting in Views.  On 21 September, Troy Davis was executed by Georgia State in the USA, after 20 years on death row for the alleged 1989 murder of a police officer. Davis protested his innocence up until his dying breath, uttered during the 15 minutes it took the lethal injection to kill him. Seven of the nine key witnesses who originally implicated him have since recanted their evidence, several claiming they were ‘persuaded’ to give false eye-witness statements by the police. A further 10 witnesses identified the real culprit as a Sylvester Coles. One man who won’t be bothered is Texas Governor Rick Perry, a firm believer in the death penalty, even where evidence is debatable and whose supporters proudly boast ‘it takes real guts to execute an innocent man’. In a civilized, democratic society, that statement makes no sense. Some of the right-wing evangelical attitudes in Perry’s camp undermine the very foundations of the US Constitution, making a mockery of the 6th and 7th Amendments. Imagine Ratko Mladic, under trial for Bosnian Serb war crimes, claiming: ‘it took balls to kill thousands of men, women and children’. August 13, 2011, Perry announced his intention to run for the Republican nomination for President in the 2012 election. Hope v Dogma 09/22/2011
The Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, has undermined the British Medical Association’s attempts to provide hope to the families of Britain’s 10,000 transplant patients. Morgan’s strict Christian beliefs have led him to decry the Welsh government’s preferred donation policy, an ‘opt-out’ system (where consent for organ donation is considered implicit unless the person has specifically opted out). One transplant patient, Emma Smith from Pontypool, said: ‘I wonder if he would oppose the opt-out system if he or a close relative needed a kidney transplant to save their life’. Of those in the transplant queue, around 1,000 a year (or three every day) die waiting. Further information about becoming a donor is available at NHSBT Organ Donation. Fight Cubs 09/22/2011
Three words that should never appear in the same sentence: children, cage, fighting. Yet a film has surfaced on YouTube showing an all-ticket crowd inside Greenlands Labour Club, Preston, watching two kids (thought to be only eight) forced to fight inside a cage. Between rounds, scantily clad models paraded around the ring. The organisers claim the kids in these bouts (some of whom are as young as five) ‘know what they are letting themselves in for’. It’s probably more a case of they know what they’d be letting themselves in for if they backed out. You wonder if the fight organisers took their inspiration from that harrowing YouTube footage of intellectually-challenged parents goading their kids into trading punches with one another. The NSPCC may have labelled cage fighting children ‘disturbing’. The trouble is, many people buy tickets for these events. They don't see any harm in children being forced to square up to rivals for adult amusement. And while there have been sobbing between bouts, unlike dogs or cockerels, no-one has actually died yet. If there's a market for this 'sport', it won't stop. 10 years from now it’ll be on satellite TV. From the gutter to the sewer 09/21/2011
 The recent phone hacking scandal revealed Britain’s gutter press plumbing new depths. Rock bottom was struck when news broke that a private investigator working for the News of the World had accessed missing teenager Milly Dowler’s voicemail, deleting messages to allow more recordings. This impeded a police investigation but, far more damagingly, gave false hope to her family that Milly was still alive. She was murdered in 2002. News Corporation’s CEO Rupert Murdoch is donating £1 million to charity as part of a public apology over the incident. The UK subsidiary News International are also offering the Dowlers £2 million directly. A spokesman said the scale of the damages reflected the ‘wholly exceptional circumstances’ of this case. Except News International are confusing exceptional with inflammatory. This particular example of phone tapping was vile in the extreme. But it was no exception. The extent of the hacking problem has since been described as ‘industrial scale’. You suspect investigations might only ever scratch the surface of a deep, festering boil in the skin of British democracy. Initial admissions about one ‘rogue reporter’ swiftly snowballed. From MP’s and actors, the violation of privacy extended to Afghanistan widows, 7/7 victims' relatives, the families of the two murdered Soham schoolgirls … British tabloid journalism hasn't stooped so low since Kelvin MacKenzie’s Sun danced on the graves of the 96 Hillsborough disaster victims with lurid lies about innocent Liverpool FC fans. The Dowler family reacted angrily to the news of Rebekah Brooks, News of the World editor during the Dowler hacking, receiving a £3.5 million pay-off after resigning from her role as chief executive of News International. This anger was shared by the 200 innocent staff who lost their jobs when Murdoch made the News of the World fall on its sword as his Empire grew increasingly toxic. The ramifications of the whole scandal will rumble on. The Guardian are resisting Scotland Yard attempts to use the Official Secrets Act to compel the newspaper to disclose confidential sources. The National Union of Journalists general secretary, Michelle Stainstreet said: ‘Journalists have investigated the hacking story and told the truth to the public. They should be congratulated rather than criminalised by the state’. One good thing that has emerged from the whole affair is Murdoch’s relentless grip on the puppet strings of senior British politicians has been prised apart. One-time bosom buddy of Tony Blair (who is godfather to Murdoch’s 9-year-old daughter, Grace), his name will now be forever associated with the era when the gutter press sunk into the sewers.  That tiny, perplexing, navel-gazing demographic of television viewers who still fret about ‘bad language’ must have dashed straight to their computers last Sunday morning. Danish-born film director Nicolas Winding Refn was being interviewed by Bill Turnbull on BBC1’s Breakfast about his new film Drive, along with the film’s British co-star, Carey Mulligan. Drive is about a Hollywood stunt man, played by Ryan Gosling, who falls foul of the mob he moonlights for as a getaway driver. Referring to the movie’s sudden moments of explosive violence, the director explained, matter-of-factly, violence was ‘a bit like fucking’. Naturally, Turnbull was quick to request he moderate his language. A BBC spokesman issued a heartfelt apology at the programme’s conclusion. But after the dust had settled, one question remained unanswered. What (the fuck) had Refn been getting at? There is an argument he should most certainly have chosen his words more wisely. But not for any profanity. More because of the lazy, emotive comparison. Violence = fucking. Unless we’re referring to bondage straps, whips and chains, how exactly does that equation balance? Of course consensual sex can be violent. However, to glibly state ‘violence is like fucking’ is preposterous. If the type of fucking referred to is date rape, or rape being used as a torture weapon, or hard core pornography, then that’s when the two forces can meld. But Refn, lounging in his spectacles and Adidas Gazelles, didn’t go on to contextualize his profound statement. So it came out more like something blurted by the bore who corners you at a party, the one who views the world by constantly looking down his nose at it. Fucking in the generally accepted sense of the expression (i.e. not when used to describe overtly violent sexual acts that constitute abuse) is about consensual adults having a good time. Violence is demeaning, dehumanising and always creates victims. At the end of the day, Refn is the director of a major Hollywood release. Hollywood excels in fetishizing violence. At one end of the scale that’s the US Military allowing production companies unlimited access to military equipment for gung-ho Stars and Stripes waving propaganda pieces such as Top Gun. But it’s even more blatant than that. Next time you’re at your local multiplex, check out the foyer posters. When was the last time you clocked an adult drama that didn’t feature the lead characters brandishing guns? And the sole purpose of any gun is to punch a hole in another human being, with the optimum method straight through the skull to liquidise the brain. A British gangster flick was on one of the movie channels the other night, Bonded by Blood. Before deciding to watch I googled to uncover more about its subject – the so-called Essex Boy, or Triple Rettendon murders. I stumbled across a site containing actual forensic photographs of the victims, three drug dealers, who were blasted at point-blank range with shotguns. Compared to the relatively sanitised slayings in Hollywood films – a bullet, a spurt of blood, the camera swiftly dismissing the body, even in the classics such as Goodfellas or The Godfather – the reality of violence is infinitely more horrific. In the real version of this Essex bloodbath there was certainly evidence of explosive violence, with human faces pulped beyond recognition. Like fucking? As if.  | ArchivesJanuary 2012 CategoriesAll |
RSS Feed